They say a lawyer should never ask a witness a question unless the lawyer already knows the answer. I’m no lawyer, but I fully expected a certain answer when I asked Frieling USA President Bernard Schnacke on the third day of The Inspired Home Show if he had a “productive” show.
Imagine my surprise, based on all the positive comments from exhibitors up to that point, when he answered, “Productive? No.”
Schnacke, with a smile, paused a bit as I began to realize where he was going. “Very productive!” he declared.
After 30 years of attending a show that consistently played to positive exhibitor reviews, I can’t recall hearing “best show ever” or some variation thereof as often as I did during the three days of The Inspired Home Show.
One reason: The retailers showed up. And they showed up en masse.
I had heard throughout the past several weeks how much retailers missed the show after a two-year COVID hiatus. How much they needed the show. And how much they hoped to attend. But nobody really knew what to expect when the doors to McCormick Place opened Saturday morning, despite the encouraging sign of fast-escalating retail registration with COVID concerns and restrictions easing.
The retailers showed up.
Here is a sample, far from complete, of the retailers that attended The Inspired Home Show, based on discussions with exhibitors:
- Ace Hardware
- Amazon
- Bed Bath Beyond
- Belk
- Big Lots
- Bloomingdale’s
- The Container Store
- Crate and Barrel
- Dollar General
- Food52
- Kohl’s
- Kroger/Fred Meyer
- Macy’s
- Meijer
- Qurate (HSN/QVC)
- Ross Stores
- Sam’s Club
- Sur La Table
- Target
- TJX
- Tuesday Morning
- Walmart
- Wayfair
- Wegman’s
- Deal Partners
- Ocean State Job Lot
The show also brought in scores of independent retailers, including members of the GC and HTI buying groups. Several Canadian retailers attended the show as part of a deep international buyer contingent from such regions as Latin America, Europe and the Middle East.
The retailers showed up.
And they showed up fully aware the exhibitor list for the show’s return amid many challenges would be shorter. Perhaps some showed up because of that, eager to renew in-person connections with as many key exhibiting vendors as possible, but also tuned to the opportunity for more time to scout potential new vendors, new products and new business solutions.
An industry colleague told me, “This show made millionaires.” It was an insightful and succinctly pragmatic reference to the likelihood that smaller vendors — perhaps some among the more than 300 first-time show exhibitors — would make connections at the show with retailers and other industry affiliates that set them on a course to long-term success and possible industry leadership.
Several retail merchandising teams arrived at the show with senior corporate leadership to the pleasant surprise of exhibitors.
Kris Malkoski, CEO of food and home solutions at Newell Brands, emphasized a key difference at this year’s show: The high level of in-depth strategic dialogue with retailers compared to what often was a rushed booth tour during previous shows.
Home and housewares suppliers that elected not to exhibit this year by now have already heard or seen — representatives of many of those companies walked the aisles — how strategically important the show was for exhibitors of all scope and size. Many will wish they had decided not to skip this year’s show. Many should be inspired to return as exhibitors in 2023, March 4-7.
That begs a key question for which there might not yet be an obvious answer. As The Inspired Home Show scales up next year and beyond, will retailers, based on their positive experience at this week’s show, recalibrate future show schedules and strategies to check in with key suppliers while leaving more time for deeper business development dialogue and new vendor and product discovery?
It wouldn’t surprise me if they do.
What is certain at this point is the retailers showed up to the benefit of more than 1,000 companies that made their own calculated bet to get back to the exhibit floor. That might be remembered one day as a critical turning point for The Inspired Home Show and for the home and housewares industry.
Productive? No. Very productive!
